Indigo: Abraham, the Princess and the Key Chapter Three: "The Storm"

Chapter Three: The Storm

On this Hallowed Land we’re born,

On this Hollowed Land we live,

On this Hallowed Land we die,

In this Hallowed Land we rest.

            On her way back to the room Alex stopped by the restroom.  After washing her hands, she stopped outside of her door and took a deep breath.  Then, very carefully, she pushed the door open and peeked inside and found that, despite her efforts, Abraham was waiting for her.  She stared at her, wide-eyed and alert, and it reminded Alex of an owl.

            “Sorry,” Alex said as she slipped inside.  She wasn’t sure whether she was apologizing for waking Abraham or for her behavior the day before. 

            Abraham smiled and edged toward her with one tiny arm extended.  She held something out for her, a braid of red, blue, and purple fabrics.  Alex bent down to examine it.

            “I made one for you,” Abraham said.

            Silently, Alex offered her arm.   With her delicate little fingers of pearl, Abraham tied the bracelet around Alex’s right wrist. When finished she let Alex examine.  Despite, or perhaps because of, the simplicity it was beautiful.

            “Thanks,” Alex said, and she smiled.  She looked Abraham in the eyes, shaking.  “Thank you very, very much.”

            Abraham gave her a big, affectionate smile and then did something Alex didn’t expect.  She wrapped her skinny little arms around Alex’s waist and held her tight.  At first Alex went stiff, not really knowing how to react.  She didn’t hug people often and never this close.  It felt strange, but very warm and comforting despite the girl’s diminutive size.  It reminded Alex of a blanket fresh from the drier on a cool winter’s night or a return home after many years away.

            It reminded Alex of time spent with Alicia

            She broke, and the façade crumbled in the little girl’s arms.  Alex collapsed on the floor and sobbed, and while she did Abraham stood holding her.

: The Princess and the Key :

            Isaac stood at the front of the library, beside a bench dedicated to one of the donors.  Before him the campus stretched out.  A lush, green lawn stretched out to meet the black asphalt of the parking lot.  Large trees, statuesque in their perfection, were spread evenly across the campus.

            He traced his hands along the pillars holding up the buildings enormous canopy as he walked the length of the entrance.  The walkway was made of a strange, sandy red stone that was glossed over.  His footsteps echoed.

            At the edge of the patio he stopped and looked at the surrounding buildings.  To his right they were constructing a new add-on, expanding the campus with a new science wing.  The large metal framework was wrapped in plastic gauze.

Though seemingly attentive, his mind was far off.   Someone was there, someone that didn’t belong.  They were in the city, his city, and despite his father’s warnings he was obligated to confront them.  At the very least he could find out who they were and why they were there.

            In truth, Isaac didn’t know much about the Emotion.  He did know enough, though, to believe firmly that some doors should be left unopened.

: The Princess and the Key :

            When Ellen awoke Alex was gone and someone was knocking on her door quite insistently.  She stumbled from the bed half-naked and glanced at the clock.  It was midmorning, but she still felt very tired.  The knocking continued, and she staggered her way across the room.

            Abraham was awake and had been coloring, but when the knocking started, she stopped.  She eyed the door and mouthed the word, “Don’t,” but Ellen didn’t see and cracked the door.

            Carolyne waited outside, and peeking out, Ellen could see something different about her.  It wasn’t something that could be articulated but, despite her small size, Carolyne seemed somehow greater.  Ellen recoiled briefly and then glanced at Alex’s bunk.  “Sorry, Carolyne, Alex isn’t here.”

            Carolyne smiled, but it wasn’t a smile.  Maybe it was a warning.  Normally, Ellen didn’t mind Carolyne’s infrequent visits.  She found the other woman funny and interesting, and though they didn’t spend much time together, Ellen considered her welcome.  That morning, however, Ellen wanted to slam the door shut.  Carolyne stared through her.

            “What about the other girl,” Carolyne asked, and Ellen reacted on instinct. She slammed the door but found it stopped by Carolyne’s food.  Ellen retreated, while Carolyne stepped into the room, her warning written across her face.  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

            That night, while she slept, the boy tore the meat from her bones and searched her blood for the key to the castle.

            The campus was empty on Saturdays, and Alex preferred it that way.  It left her alone and free to go wherever she liked.  It also meant the library study rooms would be empty.  She could seek refuge there until she finished her assignment.

            She had notebooks and papers stuffed under her arm.  The wind was picking up and dark clouds moving in.  She pulled her hood up for protection.  Halfway across the gym’s parking lot she heard an explosion.

            She turned back to the dorms and saw a cloud of dust and debris lurching across the soccer field.  At first, she stared in awed confusion, and then she dropped her things and started toward it.  She couldn’t explain it, but she knew something was wrong.  Somewhere inside of all the chaos a feral beast lurked.  It was tall and vicious, with too many heads and each dripping acid, and she was its prey.

: The Princess and the Key :

            Shana spent her Saturday morning attempting to read.  Every time she started the first paragraph, however, her stomach turned.  It felt like motion sickness, but she was stationary.

            The entire day continued like that, and she stretched out across her bed and tried her best to ride out the storm.  Outside the air was thick and heavy.  Normally, Shana kept her window open when it rained.  Today, she didn’t.  With the weather as it was, she was afraid of being crushed.    

: The Princess and the Key :

            Carolyne walked slowly from the plume of smoke with a sword in her left-hand.  It was a rapier with a paper-thin blade.  A set of ornate black wings extended from the grip and pointed toward the sky.  A thin finger guard looped from blade to the hilt base.  The world warped around it, distending as it came into being.

            Ellen could hardly believe it.  Her heart hammered as she staggered away, pushing Abraham in front of her as they went.  It all happened so fast that everything was a blur.  All she knew was that Carolyne was insane and dangerous, asking about Abraham one minute, and then pulling a sword from thin air and scattering the room across the field the next. Survival was a fluke, and the gash on Ellen’s leg was a sign of good luck.

            Abraham struggled to keep pace.  Ellen’s prodding only made it worse.  They made it to the parking lot before the little girl fell forward onto her hands and knees.  At their heels was Carolyne, stalking with a predatory gaze.  She didn’t mind them running.  For her, the chase was part of the fun. She thought of it like burning ants with a magnifying glass.

            Ellen helped Abraham up and urged her forward. 

: The Princess and the Key :

            Alex was halfway back when she met Ellen and Abraham.  Carolyne was not far behind them.  Her rapier gleamed like a deadly beacon.

            Ellen stopped beside Alex, bent at the waist, and panted.  “Alex—We—I…There’s something wrong with Carolyne.” She righted herself and pointed back at the approaching threat. “She’s after Abraham.  She wants her.  She called her the key, and she said…”

            Abraham rushed forward and hid behind Alex.  Holding her by the leg, she looked up with dark, fearful eyes. “Protect me.”

            Alex looked at Ellen, who struggled to breathe, and then past her, at Carolyne.  For such a small girl, she seemed larger than life.  Her presence took up the entire street, but she maintained a measured pace.  She looked at the world as if she owned it.

            They made eye contact, and Alex felt heavy with fear.  Her pulse quickened, her heart threatened to burst from her chest.  She was breathless and Carolyne, who had just destroyed a building, wasn’t even winded.  Even at a distance, she seemed to have them cornered.

            Again, she looked down into Abraham’s eyes.  They were dark like the universe and seeking salvation.  Without thinking, Alex nodded.  They were all helpless, but Alex had the advantage.  She was used to being helpless. 

She pushed Abraham into Ellen’s hands.  “Ellen, take Abraham and hide her.  And no matter what happens, don’t come out.  Not until I tell you it is safe, okay?”

Ellen pushed herself up.  She was pale and sweating, and her eyes seemed unfocused.  She took a deep breath and then nodded, and she took Abraham by the hand.  Alex lead them along a back path, around one of the buildings and then came to a stop in front of the library.  She watched Ellen and Abraham disappear into the construction site.

A deep breath and then Alex came to rest on a stone bench in the middle of the grass.  She kept her hands in her pockets to keep from fidgeting and tried to think what she could say.  With things as they were between them, Alex couldn’t think of nothing.

Carolyne arrived shortly, keeping to her slow swagger and waving her blade idly.  Blades of grass parted with each pass.  Twenty-feet away she came to a stop, and she stared Alex in the eyes.  She was smiling, still, though it was twisted, sinister.  “Alexandra.”

Alex tried to swallow but her throat felt dry as a dish rag.  She stood.  “Carolyne.”

“Move, please.  I need to get the Key.”

Alex’s knees shook, but she ignored them.  She stood as tall as she could while slouching.  “The Key?”

“Yes.  The girl with the dark hair and the pale skin.  The one that Ellen is trying to hide.  She is the Key, and I need her.”

“And what is she the key to?”

Carolyne sighed and cocked her hip dramatically.  “She is the key to the heart of God, dear.”

Alex paused to contemplate this but could find no meaning in it.  She wasn’t sure Carolyne truly understood, either.

“Listen, either you move or you are moved.  Your choice.”  Carolyne leveled her weapon and directed the tip at Alex.  For the first time since they met, Alex was afraid of her.  Her eyes were glassy blue and without pity.  She looked ready to kill, and Alex was sure it was more than a look.

“I…”  It was hard to speak, hard to even think, and even harder to stand.  Every nerve in her body was alive, tugging her in different directions.  All of them made for her to move, to let Abraham go.  Then, she heard it.

Be brave.  I can help you.

She took a deep breath.  “I’m not moving.”

The glassiness of Carolyne’s gaze left, replaced by a livid fire, and then softening into familiar warmth.  “Listen, I don’t want to move you Alex, because if I do, it means I’ll have to kill you.  So, please, this is the last time: move.”

Alex shook and thought to move again, but she could hear the Voice echoing in her mind.  She held her ground and balled her fist, and she meant to speak but couldn’t manage it.  Simply standing took everything she had in her.

Carolyne sighed.  “Please, Alex, please!  We’re better than this!  Just let me have the Key.  Let me go to the Emotion!”  A long pause followed as Carolyne let every word settle.  “If you like, you can come with me.  WE can go together, to the Emotion.  You and I.”

There was kindness there, longing and lingering want.  For months, Alex had wanted Carolyne to look at her that way.  Now, she was having it offered at the end of a blade.  She had something Carolyne wanted, something to keep her there.  It felt good to no longer just be a ‘her.’  Finally, she was part of a ‘we.’

Then, Alex remember Alicia, who would never forgive her, and she thought about Shana, who never really liked Carolyne in the first place.  She thought about Ellen, too, pale and bleeding, the results of her efforts to protect a lost little girl.  She thought about Abraham, who held her as she cried.

“No.”  She meant to say it, but the word died in her throat.  She hung her head and stepped aside, and Carolyne lowered her weapon and sauntered forward.  “Good girl,” she said, and her footsteps echoed like thunder again the pavement.

Alex couldn’t even watch her pace.  She stared at the ground, at her feet, and let her shame eat her.  That’s when she saw them out of the corner of her eye: tightly woven bands of red, blue, and purple yarn bound about her wrist.  She stared at them for what felt like an eternity, and she felt the change with in.  She wasn’t confident, but she was resolved, and she met Carolyne’s gaze head-on.

“I’m not moving!”  She shouted the words and, in that moment, felt different.  They were equal in that instant, but it didn’t last.

Carolyne sighed and shook her head, and then she was gone.  She moved so quickly that Alex couldn’t follow it.  Alex blinked and Carolyne was there, distance closed and blade ready.  She lunged, and instinct took over.  Alex threw her arms up in defense, sacrificing them to the blow.

There was a flash and a pop, and the world spun.

Alex had never flown before, but she did then.  Like a cannonball, she was jettison across the campus and went spiraling through the air.  The fence caught her and folded back.  She tumbled across the clay unearthed by the construction and slid to a stop.

It hurt.  She hurt, but with time and effort, she managed to bring herself to kneeling and then, with a grunt, standing.  Her legs were weak, but she was steady and, to her surprise and Carolyne’s anger, her arm was whole.  In fact, her entire body was more-or-less fine.  She had survived not just the melee but the fall as well.

Carolyne shrieked and Riis appeared at her side, arms crossed and grinning like a baboon.  She leaned over and whispered into Carolyne’s left ear.  “Listen, girl.  Now is not the time for sentimentality.  You want to complete the task I’ve given you, yes?  You want to be in God’s heart?  Then you’ll have to go through her.  TEAR through her if need be, and then you’ll need to take the Key.  Do you understand?”

Carolyne nodded.  It was clear that she didn’t want to hurt Alex, but she refused to be stopped.  She closed her eyes, and she reached out.  Inside of the building, hiding among the mess, she could feel them: Ellen and the Key.  She moved with bullet-like speed and precision, tearing through the plastic and stepping into the unfinished halls.

This time, Alex saw her and moved to intercept.  She wasn’t sure why, but Carolyne didn’t seem so big or scary anymore.  They were equals, standing on level ground.   The bracelet felt warm around her wrist, and she found strength in that warmth.

Caroyne met Alex with surprised frustration.  She readied her blade, leveling it again, and this time she aimed for Alex’s heart.  It was unfortunate, she thought, but also necessary.  Alex had to die.

: The Princess and the Key :

            Shana was in bed, restrained by the infinite weight of the atmosphere.  She had long since giving up on her book, given up on anything, and so lied there sick and twisted up.  Something was happening that day, something bad.

            Her head felt like it was being crushed in a vice and her body sedated.  The effects weren’t physical, she thought.  It was more like her soul was sick, and the body followed its lead.  Everything was knotted and tight.

            The sound of cracking glass caught her attention.  She sat up, slowly and with effort, and found the picture on her desk broken.  A web-like fractured had appeared just over Alex’s smiling face.  Shana took the picture in hand and stared at it for a few seconds, then she rose from the bed.

            Something was wrong.  Alex was in danger.  Her dreams were more than dreams, and she knew for sure.  She grabbed her car keys and ran out of her room without even changing.  There was no time.  Alex needed help, and Shana had to be there before it was too late.

: The Princess and the Key :

            The wall collapsed inward in a puff of gray dust.  A pear-shaped figure came tumbling out of the debris and crashed into an unpolished, winding staircase.  She scrambled to her feet and sprinted down the hallway.  In the very same instance, the stairs ruptured into bent shards.

            A blade cut through the fog of dust that choked the air, creating an opening for Carolyne to stomp through.  Her jaw was tight with rage.  “I gave you a chance, Alex!”  She closed the distance between them quickly and swiped with her blade.

            Alex fell forward, face-first, and crawled away on her hands and knees.  For a moment they seemed on equal footing, but Alex had overestimated herself.  She realized very quickly how severe her disadvantage was.  Her short-lived resistance only proved to reinforce that sentiment.

            In the hazy distance at the other end of the hall she found Ellen and Abraham.  Ellen had blacked out from blood loss, her arms wrapped around her tiny ward, who sobbed softly.

            “I gave you multiple chances!”  There was another attack and another narrow escape.  Alex rolled across the floor and came to a stop.  There wasn’t much room to navigate and nowhere left to run.  Doing her best to fight the fear buckling her knees, she stood and faced Carolyne.

            Deep, deep within her a Voice told her to fight.  Alex, in turn, promised that she would do her best.

: The Princess and the Key :

            Riis watched the beautiful opera from outside of the building.  Once, the two girls had loved each other and then were made bitter rivals, and all for a key.  A key the importance of which even none of them fully understood.  Still, she had to commend Carolyne.  For a pawn, she was quite powerful.

            He approached her from behind, and she could feel him.  She could also feel reality warp as he conjured his Voice into being, and she ducked smoothly under his first attack.  His chakram circled in the air and returned to him.  He caught it with his left hand and had another brandished in his right.

            His Voice manifested in the form of two bladed rings called chakrams.  The one in his left was black in color, had a cross-grip in the center of the ring and four points on the outside.  The right had a simple bar-grip and was rounded on the edges.  It was pure white.

            Riis smiled hungrily as she appraised him.  They were roughly the same height.  His hair had a reddish tint to it, and his skin was darker than hers.  He moved with a youthful vigor that made her hate him.  When they locked eyes, he smiled.  “Found you,” he said.

            She nodded in return.  “So you are the one I was warned about.  It took you much longer than I anticipated.”

            He shrugged.  “I was taking the time to enjoy the show.  So, no Voice?”

            She chuckled and dragged her fingers along the trunk of a nearby try.  Arcs of light danced along the bark and peeled it from the wood.  She bared her teeth.  “I don’t really need one, as you can see.”

            Isaac eyed the display apprehensively and then shook his head.  “Uh, not really.  No.”

            Her face hardened.  She flexed her fingers, which popped loudly.  “Enough chit-chat, little hare.  I’m here to RIP you apart.”

            “That doesn’t sound like much fun.”  He grinned and winked.  “Can’t we talk? Maybe grab a bite to eat?”

            “No,” she howled, and she rushed.  He threw his left chakram again and backed away, keeping distance between himself and her hands.

: The Princess and the Key :

            Shana rushed through traffic, ignoring most of the laws she had only just learned.  Alex was in trouble.  Alex needed her help.  Alex was dying.  She wasn’t sure how she knew or what she could do, but she could just see Alex lying in a pool of blood and screaming for her.  It was like they were connected by strings, and she could feel the vibrations.

: The Princess and the Key :

            Alex squealed in pain and toppled over.  Her side was red with a river of blood as she bled across the unfinished tile floor.  With effort she got herself to a knee and sat before Carolyne, her head bowed.  She had lost, and she felt sure that she would die.

            Carolyne seemed to agree and wore her open contempt in a sneer. “You should have listened,” she said, directing the bloodied rapier point at Alex’s forehead.  “You should have listened,” she repeated, her anger swelling.  “Scared yet?”

            Alex balled her fists.  She didn’t even think about it.  Of course she was scared.  Her side was on fire, and she was losing blood quickly.  Her head was light, her movements sluggish.  She wouldn’t be able to dodge the next attack, no matter how hard she tried.

            Abraham cried nearby, screaming fitfully into the silence.  She tugged Ellen’s arm.  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

            Carolyne cackled viciously.  “You’re both sorry,” she said, and she lunged. 

            Dire or dead either way, Alex flinched and threw her arms up again.  There was another flash of light, and Carolyne’s blade stopped, suspended only inches away Alex’s flesh.  The world wrung and the windows shattered in the storm.  Alex fell back but kept her right arm up.

            Carolyne pushed harder.  Reality bulged and swelled.  They could feel it straining, struggling to hold her back.  Whatever it was, it was giving.  Carolyne put her full weight into her blade and growled like a wild animal.

            “You bitch,” she shouted over the maelstrom.  “You whined and whined about how you wanted me, how you NEEDED me!  You wouldn’t stop.  Then I give you this chance, this perfect fucking chance, and you throw it away!”  She shook her head and put her weight, little as it was, into the rapier.  The blade sunk deeper, sliding into whatever kept her at bay.

            Please, hear me, please, say my name!

            Everything stopped.  Alex didn’t understand how, but she knew.  She used her left arm as a brace and pushed, and she said it.  The words appeared, fully formed in her mind, and she said them loudly and with conviction.  She called out to her Voice.

            “Three Gods!”

            A bracelet of pure platinum appeared from the air, coiling around her right arm from forearm to elbow.  From it a blade grew, swelling forward and bridging the distance between the two women.  The tip parted Carolyne’s shirt and narrowly missed her throat.

: The Princess and the Key :

            Less than hundred feet away another battle raged.  Isaac moved nimbly, hands bleeding around his weapons.  Each time he blocked her attacks an arc of light danced along his palms and parted his flesh.  He didn’t know how many times he could deflect her, and she was too quick for him to evade.

            They broke through the doors into the cafeteria.  Isaac tumbled and rolled to a stop while Riis followed him, bounding through the open doorway and narrowly missing his face.  A flash, and the skin on his cheek tore open.  He winced and retreated into a nearby wall, her advancing endlessly on him.

            She fractured the stone above him as he ducked under and sprinted away.  He was halfway down a long, polished hallway before she caught him.  She dragged her hand along the glass panels lining the walls, shattering them as she passed.  A high swipe, and Isaac used her momentum to throw her overhead.  She landed on both feet and turned on him.

            He threw his left chakram, but she knocked it away with her hand.  Passing her, he caught it and continued toward the exit.  She caught him and kicked him in the back, knocking him through the door and onto the cement walkway outside.  He scrambled to his feet and rolled out of the way as she laid hands on where he was.  The cement turned to dust.

            They came to a stop outside near a small pond.  Isaac retreated into the center of the water, walking on its surface like a prophet.  It had taken him months of training to learn the basic of this and years more to master it.  It hurt a little to watch Riis follow him out.

            She flexed her hand and gazed around the shifting water.  “Here?  This will make you a fine grave.”

            Isaac took a deep breath to steady his hands.  Blood ran down his knuckles and his cheek.  He was afraid she was right, and then he felt the shift in the air.  In the distance, he could feel Alex’s awakening, and it restored some hope to him.

: The Princess and the Key :

            When Alex opened her eyes she was lying outside of the library.  The stone walkway was slick beneath her back.  It was raining, a light sprinkle.  Dust and debris lay strewn about her.  Carolyne was about twenty-feet away.

            Alex felt sluggish.  Her right arm was still bound in the strange, intricate bracer.  A long, double-edged blade stuck out past her fist.  Two figureheads were etched into its surface.  Closer to the blade was a dragon’s head, holding a red gem in its open maw.  A maiden held a blue gem on the opposite side, closer to her elbow.

            She stood and wiped the sweat and blood from her brow.  Her injuries were light, insufficient to leave her helpless, but severe enough to cause her pain.

            Carolyne woke and stood across from her.  Aside from the tear in her blouse she was still in fine condition.  She swung her rapier around, testing its weight and adjusting her grip.  Then she smiled viciously at Alex.  “Finally, you finally heard it!  The damn thing’s been begging for months, and now you finally hear it.”  She fell into a fit of high, wild laughter, and the sky joined her with a deep-bellied rumble of its own

            Alex held up the brace and examined it.  “What is it?”

            “Proof of your existence,” Carolyne said.  She cradled her rapier like a child.  “It’s your soul’s voice, Alex, and through it you can express your will.  It is here to help you.  At its essence, it is you, and that is why you’re better.  See, wisdom is energy, and we have more than they could ever hope for.  We’re so much more, so much higher, that even their gods can’t touch us.  We are harbingers, dear, and we can bring them something, save them from their pointless little existences.  We just need the Key.” She held out her hand once more, an offer, and she said, “One. Last. Chance.”

            Not for the first time Alex felt alone.  It was a near constant state for her.  Outcast, freak, she felt familiar with those titles, but this strange weapon made her feel even more isolated than before.  She could summon a construct of her soul, and she didn’t even understand what that meant.  After hearing it explained, she wasn’t sure Carolyne truly understood either.

            Whatever the case, she had to make a choice.  She stood and leaned her head back.  Closing her eyes, she let the rain wash it all away.  Whether animal or angel, madman or prophet, monster or savior, she knew wherever she went she was closing doors.  To challenge Carolyne would mean challenging her love, her first lover.  To join her meant sacrificing Abraham, helpless and hopeless, but otherwise foreign.

            Carolyne took a confident step forward.  “We are better than this, Alex, better than them.  Come with me to the Emotion, to the heart of God!”

            These words brought Alex back.  The rain felt more substantial than before.  It soaked through her clothes and eased her aching body.  The blood on her face was washed away and pooled at her feet.

: The Princess and the Key :

            The light Isaac felt faded as quickly as it appeared.  Riis charged him, leaving a spray of water in her wake.  Turning his attention back to her, Isaac gave a last-second toss, and she slipped under the muddy water.  His chakram bounced along the surface and then returned to him.  He caught it and turned a circle, searching for ripples in the water.

            He started taking slow steps toward the edge, both chakrams ready.  His thoughts were scattered, drawn away.  He couldn’t focus on both Alex’s missing presence and on his enemy at the same time and, torn between them, found nothing.

            The water broke, and Riis seized him by the ankles.  She pulled him under, dragging him down first by his feet and then his shoulders.  The dirty water stung his eyes and filled his throat.  He flailed weakly as she seized him by the face.  The energy moved through him, cutting him to the bone.  Fresh wounds wept blood into the water.

            He thrashed, but she was gone.  She moved too quickly, darting around him, touching him lightly and rending his flesh.  He spun in the water, swaying, kicking, making for the surface but being pulled back down.  She took him by the head and knocked skulls with him.  He lurched back, mouth open, releasing what little air he had left.

            Her hands fixed around his throat and flexed.  He could feel her energy now, moving through her and into him.  With his right hand, he took one of her arms and then drove his left arm up into her elbow.  The arm gave, folding upward with a dulled, water-dampened crack.

            She tried to kick away from him, but he held her in place.  Gripping his chakram tight, he punched her repeatedly in the stomach with his left hand.  To start, her flesh resisted, but after repeated punctures it softened to wet paper.  He stopped only when she did.

            He pulled himself from the water, gasping and wheezing as he made it to the surface, and dragged her along after him.  On the shore, he coughed until the water came back up.  Then, he went back to her body, ran his blade along her throat for good measure, and pushed her back into the water with his foot.

            It was raining as he stood, and the rainfall washed the mud from his body.  He felt weak and breathless, but he didn’t take the time to recover.  In the distance, he could feel Alex again, but only faintly.  So, he drew a single deep breath and forced his reluctant body forward.

: The Princess and the Key :

            Alex turned her gaze on Carolyne.  They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, brown eyes on green, but it felt different from the past.  Nothing lingered between them.  There was no romance or regrets, only a deep sense of disappointment.

            Carolyne lowered her arm and fixed her stare on the ground.  Her hair fell wet into her eyes.  “Of course you can’t,” she whispered.

            Alex lifted the bracer—Three Gods—again.  Then she cut the falling rain with it.  “I’m sorry,” she said, holding the blade in front of her without really knowing what to do.

            Carolyne lifted her own Voice.  “Whatever, it’s fine, just tell me, because I have to know: why are you fighting so hard for that girl?”

            Alex gave it some thought and then shrugged.  “Honestly, I don’t know,” she said, realizing how ridiculous it sounded.  “But I’ve made my decision, and I’m following through, Carolyne. I’m living my life for once.”

            Carolyne bared her teeth in what should have been a smile.  “Fine, you idiot, but this is the end.  You may be able to hear your damn soul, but you’ve only just learned its name.”  She ran her fingers along her rapier’s blade.  “You still can’t understand a damn thing it’s saying to you!”

            Staring across the wreckage and the rain, Alex swore she saw reality bending around Carolyne again.  She thought that all the fear was behind her, but she was very, very wrong.

: The Princess and the Key :

            Shana’s car slid on the wet asphalt.  She came to a stop and then stumbled out the driver’s side door, sprinting on bare feet toward the campus.  After only a few steps her legs gave out.  She fell forward, catching herself on her hands and knees and vomiting into a puddle in front of her.  The air had become so thick, so heavy, that she could no longer breath.  It was a struggle to even keep her eyes open.

            Danger permeated the air.  Rain and thunder swallowed her sobs as the crawled forward.  Alex wasn’t far off.  Ahead, in the distance, she could see light pooling around the library, and she could feel Alex at its center.  Whatever it was, it was dangerous, and she had to hurry.

            She forced herself to standing and started forward again.  This time, she made it to the grass before she collapsed.

: The Princess and the Key :

            Carolyne held her blade out before her.  Her eyes were closed, her body tense, and the air around her grew heavy.  In a moment of do-or-die, Alex blitzed her with Three Gods ready.  She crossed half the distance before the world crashed down on her, the air thick as stone.

            Submit to me, world of life, and cut this string of fate!

            The words were not spoken but felt.  Carolyne’s eyes glowed a bright, sickening green.  She lunged forward and there was a flash of light before her blade landed like a hammer blow.  Alex felt it with everything in her body and did her best to push through, but the current was too great.  She was washed away, world spinning chaotically around her.  She landed hard and rolled to a stop face up in the rain.

            It hurt to breathe.  Carolyne followed close and was on her in an instant.  It took everything Alex had to avoid the next attacked.  She rolled out of the way and stumbled to her feet, dodging a second strike and a third, but a fourth caught her in the side.

            Her footing wasn’t stable.  She spun and swung wide, aiming for the head, but couldn’t follow through.  The pain in her side brought her to kneeling.  Breathing became a struggle as pain shot up her spine.  All of her limbs suddenly felt like lead.

            Her legs gave first, and she fell to her knee, head down, pain wracking her bones.  She looked almost submissive as Carolyne stood over her, sneering.  “Is that it?  Is that all you have?’  Her tone softened and affection bled through.  “Please, tell me it is.  Tell me you were wrong, that you have changed your mind.  If you do, I’ll give you another chance.  Alex, please.”

            Alex wasted no time and gave no energy to contemplation.  She pushed off the ground with the last of her strength and threw her weight behind her blade, which found home in Carolyne’s stomach.  Two inches dug in, and Carolyne came to an abrupt, wheezing stop.  They stumbled together, Alex falling forward, Carolyne staggering back.

            They stayed like this, the rain washing over both of them.  This single instant stretched into eternity.  Alex stared up into Carolyne’s wide, green eyes and swore she saw tears, swore she saw genuine hurt.  Then, Carolyne’s rapier evaporated into the air and, shortly after, Three Gods followed suit.

            Both of them collapsed on the muddy concrete, blood pooling in the rain around them.     

: The Princess and the Key :

           

            Up to that point Abraham had waited.  She was scared and alone, but she couldn’t hide forever.  Ellen had become so cold, and she could feel the raging battle come to an end.  Their lights were dimming, one by one, and only she could fix it.

: The Princess and the Key :

            After a few minutes of heavy breathing Shana could stand.  The storm had come and passed.  She sprinted toward the library, ignoring the ache of her bare feet on the wet stonework.  Whatever had transpired, she wasn’t confident that Alex had made it through.

: The Princess and the Key :

            Isaac felt like a fool.  Ignoring his father’s advice, he threw himself into a big damn mess and dragged others into it along the way.  Then, he took a life with his own hands and, possibly, caused the death of another.  He couldn’t feel Alex’s presence anymore, could no longer see the glow of her light.

            He sprinted through the campus, the wet grass and mud sucking at his feet as he went.  When he last felt her, Alex was just outside of the library, on the far side from him.  As he ran, he found himself thinking of his father again.  How much could his father have known?  More than he would ever tell Isaac.

            It didn’t matter.  Isaac was here, and he would make a difference.  By-standers, he reasoned, never wrote the next page of history.

: The Princess and the Key :

            The last thing Alex felt was a lingering pain in her side.  She was wet and cold, and then she was nothing at all.  In the distance she saw Shana running toward her, an angel in soaked pajamas.  Then, in the blackness, she heard her scream.

            Light was everywhere.  It was inside of her and around her, and it was in every color imaginable.  If Alex could have gone out of body and looked at herself, she would have thought of herself as being green.  She definitely felt green, and that made her happy.  She wanted for nothing, no taste, no scent, no sound.  She was content to simply be.

            “So, this is the end?”

            “No, of course not,” Alex said, feeling somehow assured.  “It’s just an ending for us.  I made my decision, Carolyne, and I stand by it.  Isn’t that the point of life?  To make decisions?  To follow through?  To exist and live?”

            “Then you should keep on trying and keep on living, Alex!”

            “…Shana…”

            “I’m so sorry, Alex, please understand.  This is all I could do.”

            “It’s okay.  I made this decision myself, and I promise you, I have no regrets, other than the fact that I hurt someone very dear to me.”

            “Sorry to say, princess, but it’s not over just yet.  You aren’t dead.  You’re just adjusting, is all.  Despite all of our efforts, I think we failed.  It looks like we get to go to the heart of God after all.  To the Emotion.”